Package for dispensing ribbon



1962 J. J. LOWE ETAL 3,051,306

PACKAGE FOR DISPENSING RIBBON Filed Jan. 12. 1960 Uit tats 3,051,306 PACKAGE FOR DISPENSING RIBBON John J. Lowe and Gerald D. Thomas, South Hill, Va., as-

signors to Burlington Industries, Inc-, Greensboro, N.C., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 12, 1960, Ser. No. 2,044 2 Claims. (Cl. 206--52) This invention relates to packages for displaying and dispensing ribbon and more particularly to a ribbon package having means for rewinding surplus ribbon previously unwound, for example, at a previous sale.

Most conventional-ribbon display and dispensing packages are not provided with any means whatsoever for rewinding surplus ribbon although it has been previously proposed to provide such packages with a rewinding means. It has previously been proposed to form a slot in one or more ends of the package, through which the peripheral edge of the end portion of the ribbon spool, held therein, is allowed to project. Thus, by moving the peripheral edge to rotate the spool it is possible to re wind the ribbon.

Another type of rewinding means heretofore proposed involves providing the side of the package with a slot therein exposing either the ribbon itself or the end portion of the ribbon spool disposed therein.

In all such ribbon dispensing packages there is the common problem, among others, that whenever the package is held manually, the holding force on the sides thereof causes them to deflect and press against the ribbon or spool as the operator or sales personnel attempts to rotate or rewind the excess length of ribbon back on the spool. Thus, in order to allow the spool to rotate freely Within the package, without the sides thereof rubbing on the spool, it is often necessary to hold the package in some awkward and inconvenient position.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a package for dispensing ribbon with novel means for easily and positively rewinding surplus ribbon, and wherein the package may be held in any convenient position during the rewinding operation.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ribbon dispensing package having a ribbon spool disposed therein, wherein there is provided rewind means which does not require that there be a substantial amount of ribbon on the spool in order to rewind it.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a ribbon dispensing package of the type described having novel rewinding means which may be held conveniently in any position and in any manner without there being the possibility of binding the free rotation of the spool.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ribbon dispensing package having novel, positive gripping means for rewinding surplus ribbon, and means for visually determining how much ribbon remains on the spool within the package regardless of the rotated position of the spool.

The invention contemplates the provision of a ribbon display and dispensing package comprising: container means having means defining at least one ribbon dispensing opening and a pair of oppositely disposed side Walls, one of said side Walls having a slot therein; spool means rotatably disposed within said container means and adapted to have ribbon wrapped therearound; and disk means forming a part of said spool means and havang a plurality of apertures disposed therein and adapted to be brought into alignment with said slot, said apertures disposed on said disk means in such a manner that regardless of the rotational position of said spool means 3,5l,3% Patented Aug. 28, 1962 within said container means at least one of said apertures will be disposed for access through said slot.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from consideration of the following specification taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which we have shown a single embodiment of our invention, by way of example, and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a ribbon display and dispensing package embodying the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of one end of the ribbon spool which forms a part of the package shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the means for supporting the ribbon spool;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevational view, on a reduced scale, of the support means shown in FIGURE 3, but taken from the other side thereof and showing the ribbon spool mounted thereon; and

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 55 of FIGURE 4.

The present invention is applicable to many different types of ribbon dispensing packages, as will be appreciated. There is shown in FIGURE 1, by way of example, a dispensing package of generally rectangular design. This package comprises a container 10, which may 'be of the type disclosed in copending application Serial No. 766,792 which matured into Patent No. 2,930,479, and the disclosure of that application is incorporated herein by reference. The container 10 may be made of any suitable material, such as cardboard, and includes opposed side walls 12 and 14, top and bottom Walls 16 and 18, respectively, and an arcuate slot 19 disposed in side wall 14, as shown.

Disposed within the container 10 is a ribbon spool 20, as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 1. The ribbon 21 is shown extending through the opening 22 formed between top wall 16 and front end wall 24, although, if desired, the ribbon may be arranged to be dispensed through a slot (not shown) formed in the side wall 12 in accordance with the teachings in the copending application Serial No. 766,792, now Patent No. 2,930,479.

Spool 20, as is most clearly seen in FIGURES 2 and 5, comprises cylindrical core member 26 having attached at one end thereof end or disk member 28. Both the core member 26 and disk member 28 may be made of cardboard or any other suitable material and are suitably joined together, as by gluing. As can be seen, the ribbon 21 is wrapped about core member 26 and disk 28 serves as a guide for one side of the ribbon. Disk 28 is provided with central aperture 30, and a plurality of semi-circular apertures 32, having straight portions 33, disposed in a circular pattern adjacent the periphery thereof, for reasons that will be discussed hereinafter.

Also disposed within container 10 is a supporting member 34 which has atfixed thereto at a central position, spindle 36 for rotatably supporting spool 20 by insertion through aperture 30, as shown in FIGURE 5. Supporting member 34 and spindle 36 may also be made of cardboard or any other suitable material, appropriately joined together, as by gluing. This member 34, at its lower end, is provided with a rectangular cutout portion 38 while the upper end is chamfered as at 40 and 42, as shown. Both the length and width of supporting memggr 34 are somewhat greater than the diameter of disk In assembling the package, the spindle 36 is inserted through aperture 30 of spool 20 to thereby rotatably support spool 20 with the outer face of disk 28 adjacent and parallel to the inner face of supporting member 34, as is shown in FIGURES 4 and 5. It should i Q g 3 be noted that spindle 36 has an axial length greater than the axial length of core member 26 plus the thickness of disk 28. The purpose of making spindle 36 of such a length will be set forth hereinafter.

The assembly comprising the ribbon 21 on spool 20 rotatably supported upon spindle 36 of member 34 is then mounted in the container 10, for example, by opening the top wall 16 and inserting the ribbon spool and member 34 therethrough. The spool 20 and supporting member 34 are disposed within container with the outer face of supporting member 34 adjacent the side wall 14 and with the cutout portion 38 located adjacent the slot 19, as indicated in FIGURE 1. A short length of ribbon may then be unwound from spool and brought outside of the container 10, whereupon wall 16 may be closed. As should be evident, the ribbon spool 28 is thereby rotatably supported in such a manner that it will not bind with the sides of the container. The length of spindle 36 being greater than the total depth of the spool, there is little or no danger of either of the sides 12 or 14 binding thereagainst when the operator holds the package by grasping the side walls 12, 14 at about their midpoints, with the thumb, index and/or middle fingers of one hand. Similarly, since supporting member 34 is of slightly greater length .and width than the diameter of disk 28, there is little or no danger of the end walls of the container binding against the ribbon 21 or the spool 20, should the operator hold the package by grasping opposed end walls or the top and bottom walls.

As will be evident, the size and position of slot 19 will be coordinated with the location of the openings 32 on disk 34 and the cutout 38 so that access will be provided to the finger engageable openings 32. It is therefore possible by simply inserting ones finger through arcuate slot 19 and into one of :the openings 32 to positively engage ribbon spool 20 to thereby turn the spool in a clockwise direction (as viewed in FIGURE 1) about its axis to rewind any excess ribbon 24 which may be extending from the container 10. By providing apertures 32 of a semi-circular configuration with straight portions 33, there is provided a straight edge, as at 33, which may be conveniently engaged for movement of the spool in the rewind direction.

By reason of the number 'and arrangement of apertures 32, and the size of slot 19, there will always be an accessible aperture 32, irrespective of the rotational position of the spool 20. In the, illustrative embodiment, at least two apertures 32 will be exposed at all times. It will therefore always be possible to conveniently and positively engage the spool to rewind it, regardless of its rotary position. In addition, constant presence of at least two apertures 32 in slot 19 make it possible to visually determine how much ribbon remains on the spool at any time, there being no need to rotate the spool to expose an indicator opening.

There has thus been disclosed in the above description and in the drawing an exemplary embodiment of our invention which fully achieves all of the objects set forth above. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific details of construction and arrangement of parts, as described, are by way of example only, and are capable of modification. For example, the ribbon spool may be provided with disk members 28 at each end thereof and there may be provided an arcuate slot 19 in each of the side walls 12, 14 of the container, whereby access to the ribbonv spool for'rewinding will be provided from both sides of the container. Furthermore, the size and shape of slot 19, cutout portion 38, and apertures 32 may be varied and still provide the a v n g s of e il us ra i e embod ment no ed above,

4 We therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth but intend that the invention embody all such features and modifications as are within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A package for displaying and dispensing ribbon comprising:

(1) container means having:

(a) A pair of opposite sidewalls, one of said sidewalls having an arcuate slot therein, and

(b) a ribbon dispensing opening; a

(2) a spindle supporting member disposed between said container sidewalls adjacent said arcuate slot and having a cooperatively aligned cutout portion therein;

(3) ribbon dispensing means including: (a) A spindle joined to said supporting member, (.b) a disk member joined to said spindle and positioned adjacent said supporting member cutout portion and of a smaller size than said container sidewalls and freely rotatable with respect to said container sidewalls (0) means joined to said disk member for carrying the ribbon and rotatable therewith,

(d) a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart apertures in said disk member extending substantially the radial ribbon carrying area thereof in alignment with said cutout portion and arcuate slot to provide a visual indication of the quantity of ribbon carried by said ribbon carrying means as viewed from said arcuate slot, and whereby ribbon may be dispensed upon manual rotation of said disk mem ber.

2. A package for displaying and dispensing ribbon comprising:

(1) container means having:

(a) a pair of opposite sidewalls, one of saidsidewalls having an arcuate slot therein, and

(b) a ribbon dispensing opening;

.(2) a supporting member disposed between said containersidewalls and providing visualaccess to the interior of said container means from said arcuate slot;

(3) ribbon dispensing means including:

(a) a spindle joined to said supporting member,

(12) a disk member joined to said spindle and of a smaller size than said container sidewalls and freely rotatable with respect to said container sidewalls,

(0) means joined to said disk member for operatively carrying a roll of ribbon, rotatable therewith,

(d) and a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart apertures in said disk member extending substantially the radial ribbon carrying area thereof in alignment with said arcuate slot to provide a visual indication of the quantity of ribbon carried thereby as viewed from said arcuate slot, and whereby ribbon may be dispensed upon manual rotation of said disk member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 485,712 Rogers Nov, 8, 1892 1,112,062 Gardner Sept. 29, 1914 1,429,692 Passavanti Sept. 19, 1922 1,966,707 Buck July 17, 1934 2,359,871 Mueller Oct. 10, 1944 2,472,114 Marder June 7, 1949 

